Soham murderer Ian Huntley attacked in prison (From The Northern Echo)
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Soham murderer Ian Huntley attacked in prison
8:10am Monday 22nd March 2010 in
CHILD killer Ian Huntley is back in jail this morning after being given hospital treatment for a slash wound to his throat.
The Soham murderer was attacked yesterday afternoon by a fellow prisoner in HMP Frankland, near Durham City.
The killer was taken to an unidentified hospital outside the prison for treatment, but his condition is not thought to be life-threatening.
He was returned to the prison this morning.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said last night: “A prisoner at HMP Frankland was assaulted by another prisoner at about 3.25pm on Sunday, March 21.
“The prisoner was taken to (an) outside hospital for treatment.
His condition is not thought to be life-threatening.”
No information was available last night about how long Huntley would be in hospital or what type of weapon had been used in the attack, although reports suggested it was a home-made implement.
Huntley is serving a minimum of 40 years imprisonment for the killing of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The ten-year-olds were murdered in August 2002 in their home town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
It is not the first time Huntley has been attacked while in custody. In September 2005, while being held in Wakefield Prison, in West Yorkshire, another inmate threw boiling water over him while he was in the jail’s health care wing.
Huntley also made at least three suicide attempts during his time at Wakefield.
A spokeswoman from the Prison Reform Trust said: ‘‘The prison service has a duty to hold all prisoners safely and securely, regardless of offences committed or alleged, and no one should underestimate how hard this duty can be to meet in a system under pressure.’’ In January 2008, Huntley was transferred to top security Frankland, home to about 700 of the country’s most dangerous prisoners.
The attack comes only eight days after an inmate at the same jail stabbed prison staff with a broken vinegar bottle, leaving three injured, one seriously – an incident that is already the subject of a full inquiry by the Prisons Service.
Prison officer Craig Wylde lost the use of his left hand after being attacked by killer Kevan Thakrar on Saturday, March 13.
The incident, in which two other staff were also injured, led to a vote of no confidence in the prison governor by members of the Prison Officers Association (POA) and a protest in which officers briefly refused to unlock inmates’ cells.
The POA has also called for all glass to be banned from prisons and for staff to be issued with stab vests.
The Prisons Service has ordered Steve Tilley, governor of the high-security Full Sutton jail, near York, to conduct an inquiry into the attack.
Speaking before news of the attack on Huntley, Durham City MP Roberta Blackman- Woods welcomed the inquiry, saying she was very concerned about the safety of officers at Frankland. Dr Blackman- Woods also backed calls by the POA for glass to be removed from prisons.
Last night, Lee Wylde said his brother planned to sue his employers over the incident.
He said he had been working extra shifts to save money for his wedding to Kat Smith, planned for next year.
Speaking from his brother’s bedside at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, Mr Wylde said: “All his future plans are gone and this could easily have been prevented. He feels extremely let down by the Prisons Service.
“He’s sitting here contemplating what the rest of his life will be.
“He will never feel his wedding ring on his finger.
The Prisons Service has taken that away from him.”
Frankland has been the scene of a number of highprofile incidents of violence in recent years.
In 2007, al Qaida terrorist Dherin Barot, who planned to carry out a dirty bomb attack on the UK, was scarred for life after fellow prisoners poured a boiling liquid over him.
A similar-style revenge attack was carried out on armed robber Malcolm Cruddas by terrorist Omar Khyam.
Also that year, the cell of failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman was set on fire, and two men serving life for the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky were charged with stabbing another inmate.
In 2008, a fire in the cell of al Qaida terrorist Kamel Bourgass led to a disturbance in the prison and simmering tensions that led to a fourhour siege involving a number of Muslim inmates.
Comments(29)
simmo3578
says...
8:17pm Sun 21 Mar 10
cj-dog
says...
8:29pm Sun 21 Mar 10
The courts could have prevented this - if they'd hung him in the first place!
Butafly
says...
8:49pm Sun 21 Mar 10
jaybotoon
says...
9:05pm Sun 21 Mar 10
Super steve
says...
9:10pm Sun 21 Mar 10
Butafly
says...
9:12pm Sun 21 Mar 10
karenah73
says...
9:34pm Sun 21 Mar 10
How are the prisoners able to make weapons inside such a high security prison?
No sympathy with Huntley for what has happened to him...he deserved it. The prison officers doing their jobs however did not.
Dean M
says...
10:11pm Sun 21 Mar 10
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Good effort though. I just hope the attacker wasn't pulled off by prison officers - they usually deserve our support, but don't if they have saved this monsters life.
JOSAMADAM
says...
11:00pm Sun 21 Mar 10
J.Moffatt
says...
1:33pm Mon 22 Mar 10
HA HA HA
pxatkins
says...
10:17pm Mon 22 Mar 10
A judge sentenced this man to what was prescribed in law, nothing more and nothing less. You people are just sorry sods harbouring a similar darkness to this murderer.
Dean M
says...
11:24pm Mon 22 Mar 10
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Yes, the unelected and unaccountable judge sentenced Huntley in accordance with a law that society had no say on.
.
And before anyone gives the claptrap about society elects the government it wants, I (and I believe many others) would like at the next election to vote for a party that will restore the death penalty for monsters like Huntley - so will Labour, Tory or Lib Dem offer this?
Democracy in action...
Super steve
says...
9:11am Tue 23 Mar 10
pxatkins wrote:Well you will be delighted to know that Mr Huntley is now going to sue for £20,000 in damages.
Winston Churchill said that a society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners. A judge sentenced this man to what was prescribed in law, nothing more and nothing less. You people are just sorry sods harbouring a similar darkness to this murderer.
Oh and Winston Churchill was also the one who demanded the death penalty for many Germans at the Nurenburg trials.
ted forster
says...
2:25pm Tue 23 Mar 10
As to Huntley.I have no sympathy for this man,but the comments on here,in my opinion,show just what is wrong with society today.NO right thinking, law abiding person,for any reason,should condone the attack of 1 person,(no matter what you think of them),by another.That just leads to lawlessness.
As to bringing back the death penalty,once again I say this as someone who read history,how would you feel if your son was hanged for murder then a few years later he was given a pardon because he was found to have been wrongly convicted?Would a pardon settle you?Would that make you feel it was okay that he died,because they admitted they were wrong to hang him?Of course not.There are to many cases of people who have been convicted and hung later being shown to be probably innocent.Read the full story about Hanratty,a thief yes,but murderer?No way.Try the case of Craig and Bentley,where the killer goes free but the one who was in police custody at the time of the murder is hung.
You step back into the dark ages with the return of the death penalty.Study before you jump.
Finally,I hope Huntley suffers many years of mental torment in jail for what he did.But the judge passed sentence on behalf of the state.Would you have it that thieves have a hand cut off as in Saudi?
colinburns
says...
5:48pm Tue 23 Mar 10
ted forster wrote:I think you'll find that advances in Science proved that Hanratty WAS GUILTY as his DNA was recovered fro the woman who was raped so get your facts right first eh?
Super Steve,if you want to use Winston Churchill to help your argument please at least get your facts correct.He AT NO TIME demanded the death penalty at the Nuremberg trials.Prior to the allies decided upon the trials he wanted all of those that were charged taken out and shot WITHOUT trial.Once convinced that they should be brought to justice via the courts I can find no evidence that he in fact passed comment at all other than that the trials should be seen to be run correctly and in full consideration of world laws that stood then.I say that first as a relative of the great man,and more so as someone who has studied the trials at some length. As to Huntley.I have no sympathy for this man,but the comments on here,in my opinion,show just what is wrong with society today.NO right thinking, law abiding person,for any reason,should condone the attack of 1 person,(no matter what you think of them),by another.That just leads to lawlessness. As to bringing back the death penalty,once again I say this as someone who read history,how would you feel if your son was hanged for murder then a few years later he was given a pardon because he was found to have been wrongly convicted?Would a pardon settle you?Would that make you feel it was okay that he died,because they admitted they were wrong to hang him?Of course not.There are to many cases of people who have been convicted and hung later being shown to be probably innocent.Read the full story about Hanratty,a thief yes,but murderer?No way.Try the case of Craig and Bentley,where the killer goes free but the one who was in police custody at the time of the murder is hung. You step back into the dark ages with the return of the death penalty.Study before you jump. Finally,I hope Huntley suffers many years of mental torment in jail for what he did.But the judge passed sentence on behalf of the state.Would you have it that thieves have a hand cut off as in Saudi?
Dean M
says...
10:18pm Tue 23 Mar 10
.
I think if most people think about it they would accept that innocent people would never be executed in the future; this argument is just a scare tactic used by those who are against it in principle.
.
As for the attack on Huntley; I have no criminal record at all, I consider myself right thinking (a very subjective term of course) and I think I've had one fight in about 30 years, yet I am delighted he was attacked, although disappointed it was not fatal.
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The fact there is no death penalty for these monsters is actually what is wrong with society - a minority of bleeding-heart lefties have imposed their ideals on the rest of us and then complain that ordinary people are uncivilised when they strike out at monsters who rape and murder their kids.
.
And there is a fundamental contradiction in your contribution. Why did you refer to Churchill as a great man (sarcasm?) when, as you state, he wanted people who had been charged with crimes, but not yet convicted, taken outside and shot without trial? I and many others want Huntley, who has been convicted at a trial, to be taken outside and shot - but you don't seem to consider us as great. Hypocrite springs to mind.
ted forster
says...
9:16am Wed 24 Mar 10
Churchills PERSONAL feeling was that they should be taken out and shot without formal trial,but he followed the letter of the law,which is what law abiding people do.Would you argue that he was NOT a great man?
As to Hanratty,I am no bleeding heart,and to those who say Hanratty's dna was found on the woman,there is little doubt he had seen her within hours of her death,but over 40 people came forward and placed him over 45 miles away at the correct time.Some were friends,but others new him only by sight,and many did not like him,yet they placed him far enough away for it to be impossible for him to have commited the crime if they were telling the truth.Why should so many lie for a murderer they did not like?I note you do not comment on Bentley and Craig.Craig himself I will add say's he should have hung and not Bentley,who,as I said,was in police custody,and had been so for over 20 min's before the officer was shot.
That is not supposition that is on police records.
I have been burgled twice.Once in Cornwall when my wife and I wer away from our farm for the day 2 louts broke in and not only robbed us and wrecked the house,but one masturbated over my wife's underwear and deficited in our bed.When caught they got 6 months,and while the insurance paid up for most of the damage and loss my wife was so traumatised by what they did she could never face going back into the house on her own. They laughed when sentenced.Are they better than Huntley?
When we lived in Birmingham a gang from Manchester hired a van and came to Brum to rob as many houses as possible.When caught it came out that they used an 8 year old boy to get in through small windows.As far as I am concerned all 4 of them should have been charged with child abuse.
People see things by different degree's.From the response of a number of the posters regarding this item I thought they would probably have served time themselves.The word "Nonce" is very little heard off outside prison for one,and I have heard so often "I only rob the wealthy so I'm not doing anything wrong because they have insurance.WRONG.To say there are degree's of law breaking shows that these people don't give a **** for anyone but themselves.
My father worked for british rail as a fitter.My mam was an upholsteress.I was brought up in a clean,but not by any means rich house. I worked my guts out to set up a buisiness that was successful and made a lot of money.I deserved that for my effort and nobody had the right to just take it for themselves.
The end result,which I doubt the yobs cared one jot about was that because we moved away from Cornwall because of what happened 140 people were put out of work.
Please do not tell me that anyone in prison is"better" than any other.Everyone of them is a self centered thoughtless shameful lout.
paula46
says...
6:10pm Wed 24 Mar 10
ted forster
says...
6:09am Thu 25 Mar 10
Butafly
says...
10:08am Thu 25 Mar 10
ted forster
says...
2:48pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Let me make this quite clear,I have no time for Huntley,and I hope he rots for a lot of years in jail.He will of course never be released.I would rather that he is kept alive rather than face the quick way out because he does not deserve the release that death would bring him.He is such a coward that he didn't have the guts to kill himself,but "played"at it.
BUT.
I have a big,and varied love of history,mainly war and the reasons for wars starting.Many years ago I bought a book called Murders of the black museam by the ex ITV news reader Gordon Hunnycombe,and that got me very interested in murders of the past.It is my firm belief that,even with modern dna etc,mistakes can be and are made by the legal system.As I asked earlier,your daughter gets to say 18-19,and is charged with murder,and hung.Later you find that she was innocent and she recieves a pardon from the state and is "forgiven".Please answer truthfully,would that pardon not in many ways make you feel worse?would you forgive and forget what happened to her?I know I wouldn't.If you don't know the story please read about Craig and Bentley.NO dna in the world could ever stop what happened to Bentley,and while he was maybe a bit of a scally,he was mentally retarded,and for christs sake the police had him in handcuffs for over 20 min's before Craig fired the gun,which by his own admission,Bentley didn't know he had with him.The sole reason that they pinned anything on Bentley was that the police asked him to talk to Craig and get him to give up and come off the roof he was trapped on.The police officer,Mills was stood with his hand outstretched and Bentley in his simple way said "let him have it".Craig panicked and shot the officer.£ police officers LIED about what happened and because of there ages,Bentley,the older was hanged,and Craig who was 16 went to jail.Not only did Craig give this version of events,but after failing truth tests 2 of the police officers admitted they wanted revenge for the dead officer and that was the reason they lied.
The Guildford lot,and Birmingham bombers,(I was working in Brum at the time),were released because of police **** ups and lies.
How many does it take before people realise that for whatever reason the legal system DOES get things wrong to this day.Untill that is eradicated I say NO to capital punishment,though make prison a place nobody wants to go to twice,and to hell with the softies.
stevegg
says...
5:43pm Thu 25 Mar 10
*shakes head slowly*
says...
6:52pm Thu 25 Mar 10
melwilson
says...
10:34pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Dean M
says...
2:11pm Fri 26 Mar 10
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Being against it in principle is one thing, but using the execution of innocents argument these days is just not valid.
ted forster
says...
8:01am Sat 27 Mar 10
I hear what you say,and accept that you are totally entitled to your view,which differs from mine.I would ask however that you answer me one question,and this may sound like sarcastic comment,but is,as far as I am concerned VERY serious.Without going back over all the posts,you have said at least twice that modern DNA precludes mistakes,and that it should be easy to get a result "beyond doubt".Please remember that convictions ALWAYS had to be beyond reasonable doubt,which in itself shows the fallibility of that argument,but what DNA exists to put before the courts to stop people from lieing?
You mention that most people have a basic knowledge of the Craig and Bentley story.Without judging your knowledge in any way I ask is that from the film or have you looked into the case any further,or just accepted what was said?
Please believe me that should a FOOLPROOF method be found that NO innocent man or woman were put to death by any manner,and then cleared I would be prepared to go with it,though my feelings would, I think, remain that they should serve a minimum sentence,then be told,"Right,you know you will NEVER go free,you have the choice to end it".Ask this every 2-5 years and give the prisoner the choice of timing. This,if they still profess there innocence gives the chance of new evidence to come forward,or them to accept and admit what they did.
I can see no way that everyone will ever take the same view on this matter,and I am always prepared to talk my side for as long as needed, going back to the story that started this debate,my view still is and always will be that anybody in prison has the right to think themselves a "better class" of prisoner than any other.
Final point,there is another thread on the same story and someone asks are people who protest and break into power plants criminals?In my book,YES."Break In" ie,damage other peoples property.
Dean M
says...
5:20pm Sat 27 Mar 10
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My use of the term 'guilty beyond any doubt' is deliberate and intended to show that a higher burden of proof would apply in capital cases, i.e. proving guilt beyond 'reasonable doubt' would be insufficient.
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The use of DNA evidence is one example. As compelling as it may be in itself, this, for example, would not be enough to secure the death penalty. Perhaps one or more of witness statements, a confession, circumstances, CCTV etc could be required in support of DNA evidence in order to make the conviction safe beyond any doubt. Perhaps the lack of DNA could mean the death penalty could never apply? These are just my examples of course but I believe that there are certain heinous criminals (Brady, Hindley, Huntley, Sutcliffe) who are 100% guilty, and society is not served by these creatures spending a lifetime in the luxury of a modern prison, at vast expense to the taxpayer (when funding to schools and hospitals is about to be cut). I think the most reasonable course of action is for society to put such monsters 'to sleep' just like we do with dogs that bite children. Should human life be equated to that of a dog? I think these monsters are worse than dogs.
Butafly
says...
5:28pm Sat 27 Mar 10
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Super steve says...
7:47pm Sun 21 Mar 10